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Should I ship a Choose Your Own Adventure Action game?
Action + Choose Your Own Adventure
Of 277 developers who shipped a Choose Your Own Adventure Action game in the last 2 years: 3 in 10 made under est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., the middle one made est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 4 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method., 1 in 20 cleared est. revenue: est. copies × today's US list price; gross, before Steam's cut, taxes and refunds. See method.. 551 more are announced, ×3.4 for every developer who shipped in the last year.
Verdict: poor odds, for a 5 / 10 build.
The middle developer here made $960, ×1.5 the market's $630 for a 5 / 10 build, and 3 in 10 made under $300; 1 in 20 cleared $120k, ×202 the market median. Revenue is down 25% on the market; 551 games are announced against 162 developers who shipped in the last year.
| Bottom 30% | $298 (exactly $298) |
|---|---|
| Median | $958 (exactly $958) |
| Top 25% | $6.6k (exactly $6,587) |
| Top 5% | $127k (exactly $127,136) |
| Developers, 2 yr | 277 |
| Released games | 984 |
| Announced | 551 |
| Effort | 5 / 10 |
| AI-buildability | Medium |
| Typical price | $6.99 |
momentum: how a niche's revenue percentiles and developer count moved between two equal, adjacent periods, divided by the market's own move. See method., 12 months: revenue down 25% on the market, supply 30% more developers than the period before.
Free games: 12%, excluded from money figures.
Can AI deliver it?
AI-buildability for this niche is medium: the lowest rating among its tags.
- Action
- effort 5 / 10 · medium · effort 5 sits in the medium band
- Choose Your Own Adventure
- effort 2 / 10 · high · branching text with light state
What it takes
- Effort
- 5 / 10 · real systems or entry 3D
- Systems
- Action, Choose Your Own Adventure; 4 in 10 of the top 25% also carry Adventure, Choices Matter, Visual Novel
- Price point
- $6.99 typical · top 25% priced $19.99 or above
- Art
- 3 in 10 of the top 25% ship with Story Rich, 3D, Realistic
Why players buy here
The top 25% priced at $19.99 or above; the middle game at $6.99.
The top 10 games average 90% positive over 334,008 reviews.
What kills games here
3 in 10 developers made under $300. 9 in 10 of the 182 games released 1 to 2 years ago have fewer than 100 reviews. 551 games are announced against 162 developers who shipped in the last year, ×3.4 per shipper.
Adjacent niches
Action with a different second tag, ranked by verdict then median.
- + Real-Time with PauseFair
- + Job SimulatorFair
- + PinballFair
- + Escape RoomFair
- + Football (American)Fair
- + BaseballFair
- + BilliardsFair
- + IdlerFair
- + TennisFair
- + Time AttackFair
- + TabletopFair
- + WuxiaPoor odds
Comparable games
DayZ 2018 · $582M 
Assassin's Creed® Odyssey 2018 · $310M 
Crimson Desert Enhanced 2026 · $242M 
Dispatch 2025 · $157M 
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2018 · $129M | Capsule | Game | Released | Price | Reviews | Est. copies | Est. revenue | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | DayZ | older | $49.99 | 387,850 78% | 12M | $582M (exactly $581,658,645) | Bohemia Interactive |
| | Assassin's Creed® Odyssey | older | $59.99 | 172,149 89% | 5.2M | $310M (exactly $309,816,555) | Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubiso… (Ubisoft Quebec, Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Singapore, Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Kiev, Ubisoft Shanghai) |
| | Crimson Desert Enhanced | $69.99 | 115,056 83% | 3.5M | $242M (exactly $241,583,083) | Pearl Abyss | |
| | Dispatch | $29.99 | 174,624 97% | 5.2M | $157M (exactly $157,109,213) | AdHoc Studio | |
| | Kingdom Come: Deliverance | older | $29.99 | 143,303 83% | 4.3M | $129M (exactly $128,929,709) | Warhorse Studios |
 | 鬼谷八荒 Tale of Immortal | older | $19.99 | 190,184 56% | 5.7M | $114M (exactly $114,053,345) | 鬼谷工作室 |
 | People Playground | older | $9.99 | 298,158 98% | 8.9M | $89M (exactly $89,357,953) | mestiez |
 | The Elder Scrolls® Online | older | $19.99 | 134,421 82% | 4.0M | $81M (exactly $80,612,274) | ZeniMax Online Studios |
 | Gothic 1 Remake | $49.99 | 26,258 88% | 788k | $39M (exactly $39,379,123) | Alkimia Interactive | |
 | The Henry Stickmin Collection | older | $14.99 | 55,826 98% | 1.7M | $25M (exactly $25,104,952) | PuffballsUnited |
 | Life is Strange: Double Exposure | $49.99 | 7,842 68% | 235k | $12M (exactly $11,760,647) | Deck Nine Games | |
 | Life is Strange: Reunion | $39.99 | 4,535 89% | 136k | $5.4M (exactly $5,440,640) | Deck Nine Games | |
 | Guild Wars® Reforged | $19.99 | 3,265 87% | 98k | $2.0M (exactly $1,958,020) | ArenaNet® | |
 | Blades of Fire | $39.99 | 523 74% | 16k | $627k (exactly $627,443) | MercurySteam | |
 | Quadrober Simulator | $29.99 | 684 79% | 21k | $615k (exactly $615,395) | PropilGames | |
 | Ludus Magnatus: Gladiator Manager Simulator | · EA | $24.99 | 612 81% | 18k | $459k (exactly $458,816) | Contec Games |
 | Guidus Zero | $14.99 | 609 75% | 18k | $274k (exactly $273,867) | izzle |
Estimates: copies = reviews × 30, gross = copies × list price.
Five niches a week, one death, one deep dive.
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